Edited by Risako Ide and Kaori Hata
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 314] 2020
► pp. 39–59
Scholarship on oral narrative has drawn attention to how narrators position themselves both as characters within the narrative and as narrators in relation to an audience. This chapter examines how reported thought is used in Japanese narratives to shift frames between a narrating voice (anchored in the current situation) and a narrated voice (anchored within the story world). Functions of reported thought include: drawing contrasts between what was thought and what was (not) said; creation of a vivid, emotional narrative through the enactment of inner speech; and allowing speakers to perform speech acts while partially escaping responsibility for their illocutionary force. Reported thought allows narrators to momentarily shift footing without challenging genre conventions or established social roles and relationships.